South African captain Faf du Plessis says his sweetest century has been soured by a hostile crowd reception.
Du Plessis' character-laden 118 not out against Australia on Thursday came two days after being found guilty of ball tampering.
The Proteas skipper, who maintains his innocence, expected to be booed when he strode onto Adelaide Oval - he was right.
But he thought when he reached a century, the booing would stop - he was wrong.
"I was expecting a little bit of hostility but not to that extent," du Plessis told reporters.
"When I came out, I was obviously quite aware of it. As the innings went on, it disappeared a bit.
"But to be really honest with you guys, when I got to 100 I wasn't expecting to still get booed. So that was pretty disappointing."
Du Plessis said the bitterness from the crowd further steeled him.
"I was really motivated before today," he said.
"I felt it was a character test and the only way I could do it was by scoring runs ... I suppose it did help a little bit, maybe five per cent.
"But every ball today, I have never been that switched on every ball, to say to myself that it's not enough, I want to get a big one here.
"It was a big day for me to stand up as a captain and make sure I led from the front. So to get through all of that and this week in the manner that I did today makes me really proud."
Du Plessis is yet to decide whether to appeal Tuesday's guilty verdict which came after television footage caught him shining a ball while having a mint in his mouth.
The 32-year-old said the tactic of using sweet-enhanced saliva to shine a ball was used by every cricket team.
Australian captain Steve Smith admitted on Wednesday his side also used the ploy.
"I was actually really impressed with Steven Smith's press conference yesterday," du Plessis said.
"I sent him a message to say that he gained a lot of respect from us as a team, because to say that he does exactly what I have been accused of doing takes a lot."
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